Man Gets 7 Years for Sex Attacks on 2 Women

A Canyon Country man was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for sex-related assaults on two women, one who was blind.

David Jerry Esington, 28, was convicted by a jury in San Fernando Superior Court last month of assault with intent to commit rape and false imprisonment for the crimes in June.

The assault charge was based on an accusation by the blind woman that Esington tried to pull her clothes off after offering her a ride home in Newhall. The 35-year-old Santa Clarita woman struggled with Esington and persuaded him to release her without sexually assaulting her, authorities said.

The false imprisonment charge stemmed from his offer to drive a woman, whose car had broken down alongside the Golden State Freeway, to a gas station. The woman, a 38-year-old Tarzana resident who had recently immigrated from Japan, was lost and confused.

Instead, he drove her to a remote area in the Santa Clarita Valley and threatened her with a knife. Patrolling Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies sighted Esington’s parked car, investigated and arrested him.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Howard J. Schwab sentenced Esington to six years for the attack on the blind woman and one year for holding the other woman at knifepoint. The consecutive terms were the maximums allowed by law.

Referring to the attack on the blind woman, Schwab said he imposed the maximum term “because the victim was especially vulnerable.”